Beyond the Yellow Ribbon

In April, 2011, representatives from the Army National Guard, in cooperation with the City of Blaine held a Community Kick-off Meeting for the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon initiative that the City of Blaine is undertaking.

Since 9/11, the Minnesota Army National Guard and all branches of service have answered the call of duty in the fight against terrorism. Each deployment places increased demands on service members and military families. The Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Community Campaign unites key areas across our city to create a network that coordinates and connects agencies, organizations, resources and employers for the purpose of proactively supporting those affected by military deployments.

Individuals who are instrumental in making this happen include leadership of city, county, veterans and civic organizations, educators, employers, representatives from faith-based, medical and social services organizations.

About the Program

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon is a comprehensive program that creates awareness for the purpose of connecting service members and their families with community support, training, services and resources. The City of Blaine is taking steps to become a nationally recognized Yellow Ribbon Community. A Yellow Ribbon Community unites all areas within a community to create a comprehensive network that connects and coordinates agencies, organizations, resources and employers for the purpose of proactively supporting service members and military families.

At the Kick-off event, participants learned that Blaine has the highest concentration of National Guard members in the North Metro area and therefore this program will be very beneficial.

The next steps are to form a Steering Committee which consists of representatives from 7 key areas in the community:

Businesses

City leadership

Education/youth

Faith based organizations

Public safety/judicial

Social services/medical

Veteran's organizations

Once the Steering Committee is established, they will begin working on a sustainable Action Plan to coordinate agencies, organizations, resources and employers for the purpose of meeting the needs of service members, military families and employers at the local level.

If you are interested in serving on the Steering committee or being involved at any commitment level, please contact Mayor Tom Ryan. You can find out more about the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon initiative and sign up for their mailing list by visiting their website.